Starting device for explosion-engines with four cylinders.



No. 877,377. ENNENTEN JAN. 21, 1908.

E. SAUEEE.

STAETING'DEVIGE EOE EXPLOSION ENGINES` WITH PONE GYLINEEES. API-PLIGA'TION FILED SEPT. 14. 1907. v

s sHEETs-SHEET 1.

Noevzsw. PAINNTBD JAN. 2 1, 190s.

y IISAUNNN.

STARTING DEVICE: IOR EXPLOSION ENGINES WITH POUR GYLINDBRS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.14, 190?. f

, I 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

PATENTED JAN. 21, 19'08.

l H. SAUBER. STARTINGDEVICE FOR EXPLOSION ENGINES WITH POUR'C YLINDERS.. V

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-:14, 1907.

3 SHEETS-SHEET '3.

iii 7 WT;

- ,f NY, /4 im.

UNITED sTATEs EIPPOLYT SAUBER, E ARBON, SWITZERLAND.

STARTING DEVICE Een EXPLOSION-ENGINES WITH Form CYLINDERS.

No: 877,377; oiigini eppiioaion'meiooaar a 190s. serial Specicaton of Letters Patent.

No. a 37.707., Divided mi this application iiieii'sepiem'ber' 14. 1.907'. Serial No. 392.913. i

To all whom it mag/concertar L Be it-known' that'I, HIPPOLYT SAUBER, a [citizen-of the Confederation of Switzerland,

residing at Arbon, in Switzerland, have in-l vented anew and useful Starting Device for Explosion-Engines with Four Cvlinde'ra of which the following is a specication.

This application 1s a division of an applicas tion, Serial No. 337,707, filed by me October 6, 1906, in ,which- I have described a starting device for a foui` stroke cycle explosion-engine with four cylindersin an automobile.

By means of `tliu's device duringthe start ofv Athe automobile compressed air issupplied to every cylinder once on everyy two revolutions of the crank-shaft.

My invention relatesv to a modification of this'st'arting device, wherebythe compressed air'fissupplied to every cylinder once 'on every.

revolution of the crank-shaft.

Iiwillnow ltion with fre 'drawings-g which-- erence .Figure 1 is .an elevation of an explosion-errv l gine 'providedwith thein'ew' starting device', V part of the 'automobile being indicated by -an outline, Fig. 2 is an elevation ong-an enlarged scaleof` `the starting device andthe upper;

(part lof' theenine, the rota Y distributing 'yalveywith'itsoxrand thel et-valve-w'ith its -box for the-left extreme Icylinder being shown in section, Fig.. 3.is aplanof the same, Figs. 4 t`oj7 show on'a'reducedfscalefour-differentpositions of the rotary distributing valve, .the` latter itselfi being shown substantially in elevation', Figslflato 7 a' are horizon- 'tal cross sections through 'the'same Iand its box'and correspond to Figsg4" tol 7 respectively, Fi 8 isadiagram, which will be referred to ater on, Fig.' 9 isa-vertical cross` section (on the samescale asFigs. 2 and 3)v through-thev rotary distributing valve and its drivinggmechanismon thehne A--B in 1, Fig; 10 is a vertical longitudinal sec-f tion on'a larger scalethrough the device controlling thesupplyv of compressed air orgas to the engine; on the line in Fig. '11, '11' is a horizontal section through the 'same on the line E-F in-'Fig.'10, Fig. y,12 is a vertical cross 'section on an enlarged scale through the lineG-H in'Fig. v1 and shows one-of the four cylindersl` with "its ordinary in- "let and outlet valves, and*the inlet valve' of the'new-starting device,' and Fig. 13 is) al verticalcross section through the Ileft camfshaft' proceed to Idescribe my inveni to the accompan'ying4 in Fig. 12 *in` another plane and showsv two cams instead of the single one.

Similar characters of reference refer tosimilar parts throughout the several views'.`

The new starting device to .be described hereinafter is suitable fora four stroke cycle .explosion-engine with four cylinders and a crank-'shaft having its four cranks set' in one and the same plane. I have discovered, "that automobiles ,provided with vertical eX- /plosion-engines of this kind invariablyr lsoI stop, that. the crank-shaft occupies a horizontal pos1t1on or `nearly so and that the pis- -ton 4in one ofthe four cylinders saboutin.

Patented Jan. 21,1908. r l

'which with the exception of that of the crank-shaft just mentioned, is`v immaterial .to

.my invention; The en e comprises four cylinders marked (I), (I), (III) 'and (IV) and having each a spring-pressed inlet-valve 1 (see Fig. 12) and-a spring-pressed outletvalve 2 'as usual. As FiggS dia'grammatie- -4 ally shows, the four cranks ofthe crankshaft 7 are in one-and the same plane. The inlet-valves 1 of all lthe cylinders yare controlled froma cam shaft3 by means ofcams 4' and all the outlet-valves 2 are' controlled from another cam shaft 5 by means of cams 6 and the two cam shafts 3 and 5 are in any known manner so drivenfrom 'the crankshaft 7 as to make one revolution onevery ,two revolutions of the latter as'usual. I do not show any igniting device as it forms no part of my invention. l I i Besides .theL ordinary inlet-valve 1 each cylinder is according -to my invention ro'- vided 'with an additional' sprin -presse inlet-valveS, see Figs- 2' and 12, ol any known construction for the -compressed 'air or.gas.

. In Fig.v l2'this-inlet-'valve 8 is shown as dis-- drical'e'as'ing 11 (see Figs. 2 and 9), in?fi'vbich` a rotary tubular "distributing valve 12 is mounted to turn. rI his distributing valve 12 is fastened on a-vertical shaft 13, which passes through a suitable stuffin box 14 on exam le valve 12 is rendered easily accessible.

the casing 11 and `is arranged 4to e driven in any suitable manner, for example from the camshaft 5 for the outlet-valves 2 by means of bevel wheels 15 andv A16, as is shown at,

Eig. 9. The two arms of the connection 9 -are each divided by a partition into ltwo channels, so that there are in all four channels I to IV leading to the four cylinders (I) to (IV) respectively. lThe casing 11 is provided with a cover 17 of any construction, so that the rotary tubular. .distriburirlig is valve 12 is rovided with vtwo square a ertures arl and which are -set at an angle cip from eachother and are so disposed, that ltheone aperture a ma periodically register with either of the two ower channels II and III and the other aperture b may periodicallyre ister with elther of the two upper lcharme s I and IV. Thecompressed ai; or

gas is supplied to the casing 11 through a suitable tube 18 and a co'n'nection'lQ.v The rotary distributing valve 12 is made open (see Figs. 2' and 9) to permit the' compressed vair or gasto pass upwards. 3o'

An air-compressor 20 (see Figl) of any known and approved construction is provided and can be coupled at will with the crankshaft-7 by means of asuitable clutdh 421, a bent lever 22,l a rod 23 and the arm 24 of an operating lever 25.- On a convenient board' 26 or the like in the' automobile 27 is secureda casing 28 shown in Figs. 1 0 and 11,

in which the shaft 29 "of the operating lever 25 is mounted'to rock. rIhe'casing 28 contains three chambers 30, 31 and 32', of which the chamber 32 is shown as divided into an upper and a lower portion that communicate with one another through two'side pasturned from its middle position into its other (vertical) extreme position the aircompressor 20 will be coupled with the crankshaft 7 in the above mentioned manner and thusbe set in motion. The second chamber 31 in the casing 28'communicates with a suitable reservoir 35 through a tube -36 and is normally closed with a stop valve 37, which may be operated in any vknown manner, for

rom a hand-wheel`38. The ythird cham er 32 communicates with the air-cornmade alike and the cam shaft j5 is driven at `amlnatio'n of Figs. 4 to 7 and 4a to 7a. lcourse for the start the four stroke cycle ret 29 and is pressor 20 through atube 39. it will` be obvious, that the operating lever 25 can be operated from the drivers seat.

As the two bevel wheels 15'and 16 are the rate of 2:1 as mentionedabove, it f0l` 0 lows that the rotary tubular distributing' valve 12 makes one revolution of every tw-o revolutions ofthe crank-shaft 7. Thus the speed of the rotary'tubular distributing valve 5 .12 is ke t moderate, which is preferable for its satis actory operation. In order to ad mit the compressed air or gas to every cyl- V inder once on every revolution of the cranks( shaft 7, the two upper channels I and IV-are 80 put in communication with one another by means of a passage c and in a similar manner the two lower channels II and III are con# nected by meansof a passage (l, as is shown. Then the' compressed air or gas will be admitted to any two c linders ata time, if either aperture @,or registers with either of the two vchannelsII and III or I andIV. respectively. This will be clear from an` e' quires to be turned into a two-stage cycle. For this purpose any known niechanism'may be employed. For example .the cam shaft 5 may be made longitudinally movableand 95v may` be provided with four pairs of opposite` cams 40, 40 in addition to the foursingle camsv 6, see-Fig. 13. These pairs of cams 40,

40 are disposed at-:a certain uniform distance from the single cams,` so that it is only necessary to lshift the -cam shaft 5 through the said distance in either'direction for caus' ing the'outlet-valves 2 to beeach opened once for every revolutionor once for every two revolutions ofthe crank-shaft 7'respecl1015 tively.4 The longitudinal motion of the caml shaft 5 may be effected from the drivers seat by means of a hand-lever 41, its arm 42, a rod 43 and a two-armed lever 44`shown in'Fig. 1',"the lowery arin' of the two-armed 110 lever 44 being forked vand engaging by means of two pins in a grooved disk-45 fastened on the cam shaft'5. l

In orderto render the following explanai tions intelligible, it is first assumed that the l)two assages c and d were omitted, so that 'the com ressed air V.or gas is admitted to every cy nder only once for every two revolutions of the crank-shaft,

` -The crank-shaft 7`is assumedto be -bent 120A in they manner shown at Fig. 8 and the igmtions of'the compressed mixtures in the several c llinders are assumed to take place in the fo lowing order: (I), (III), (IV) Aand (II). .-Now that the compressed air or gas 1 25 for starting the vexplosion-engine is also invariably admittedto each cylinder during that stroke of its piston, during which in the usual work ofthe engine the expansion of the exploded gaseswould take place, it follows that the compressed air or gas must be admitted to the several cylinders in 'the same order, viz. (I), (III), (IV) and (II) Thereby it is also rendered possible to utilize the ordinaryoutletvalves 2 for the exhaust of the spent air or gas and no special mechanism for turning the four stroke cycle into a twostage cyclefor the starting ofthe automobile will beA necessary. v With the rotary tubular distributing valve- 12 of the construction described above itis .possible to admit the compressed airl or gas to the-several cylinders in the said order, as

will'be clear after an examination of Figs. '4

to 7 andfliL to 7a. For the position of thev valve 12 ,shown in Figs. 4 and 4a the com- "pressed air or gas will be admitted through the upper aperturel b and the channelI to the first cylinder (I). After thev shaft 13 has been turned through an angle of 90 in the 'directionof the arrow, the compressed air or gas will-be admitted through the lower aperder` (II), as isshown at Figs. 5 and 5a.

and 6a. i through a further angle of 90, the com-r pressed air or gas will be admitted through t e will lture a andthe channel III tothe third c/ylini 'ter the turngof the rotary tubular distributing valve 12 through another angle of 90 the compressedV air or gas will be admitted through the upper aperture b and the .channel IV to the fourth cylinder-(IV),l see Figs. 6 When the valve 12 has-v been turned the lower aperture a and the channel II to second cylinder (II), as Figs. 7 and 7 E Fromtheabove it will be seen,y that the` outlet-valves 2 are severally. always opened.

at thecorrect moments lfor permitting lthe wasted air t escape, ifthere are no passa es c and d. As the passa es c andjdjare actua y there and eaclfifcylin er receives the compressed air once for every revolution of the J crank-shaft 7, of course the start ofthe automobile will be accelerated. The compressed air'or gas will be admitted to any twocylinders at a time, if eitheraperture o or b registers with any of the foin" channels I to IV'. This ,will be clear from an examination of Figs. 4 to 7 and 4a to 7*?.

be supplied through the lower aperture a and they channel III to thewthird cylinderl (III) "andalso thr'ugh the passage d and the channel II to the second cylinder (II), see Figs. and 5*?, and vso on'.v As the two cams 40, 40 of every pairon the cam shaft 5 are setvatfan vangle of 180,.from each other,l it follows1 that the corresponding outlet-valve v2 will A-be `exploded gases in-the samecy inder. Y this the manner of operating the starting` nels obtainthe desired eiect.

opened -once for every revolution of the crank-shaft 7 and also that all the outletvalves 2 are s'evera'lly'opened. at theright moments, that is to say once duringthe exh'austv stroke and once during the compres` sion stroke of each piston.

As already indicated above, on stopping the automobile in general in one ofthe four cylinders the `piston'will stop in about the middle of its stroke during, the ex ansion of the device will be obvious and it is as follows: The driver will take care to keep the reservoir filled with compressed air or gas, he coupling during the drive the air-compressor 20 with the crank-shaft 7 by turning the operating lever 25 from its normal position into the vertical position and opening the stop valve 37 by means of the hand-wheel 38.

Whenl the pressure gage 46 shows, that the compressed air or gas in thevreservcir 35 has attained the required pressure, the driver closes'the stop valve 37 and disconnects the aircompressor 20 from the` crank-shaft 7.'

When the automobile is at rest and the driver wants, to start it, he shifts by means of the hand-lever 41 ,the cam shaft 5 into the other extreme position, so as to bring the pairs of cams 40, into the vplanes ofthe outletvalves 2.. `Next he opens the stop valve 37 by means of the hand-wheel 38 to admit com ressed -air or.l gas from the reservoir 35* to t e chamber32 through the tube 36 and the "chamber 31.V Thereupon he turns the operating lever 25 from its normal position .to the extremeposition shownin dotted lines on the right in Fig. 10, so as-to open the stop valve 33 by. means of the arm 34 a'nd'to admit vthe compressed air or as from the cham.-

ing valve `12 through the tube 18. The com- From sel

pressed `fair or gas lwillthen pass through yeither of the two apertures a and-,b ofthe valve 12 and throughthe respective two of the four channels I to IV and open the spring.- pressed inlet-valvesS of two cylinders. The

compressed air 'orgas .driving their pistons will start the engine." The spent air will be discharged through-the outlet-valves 2 during the following stroke,l while the com- .l

pressed air or gas will enter the two other cylinders and drive their pistons. After the start the driver may close the stop valve 33 and return the hand-lever 41 to its initial position and may operate the four stroke g cycle explosion-engine in the usual manner.

It is evident, tha't the order, in which the ignitions of tl1e eompressec l mixtures in the several cylinders tfakeplace, may be altered,

if-so preferred'. In this case it is easy to so alter thestarting device, that'is to say the rotar distiibutin -valve 12,.the lfour chanto'IV and t e passages@ and d, as to 10.5` bei' 32 to the casingl'l of t e rotary distributv itself-the rotary distributin "fastened, direct on lthe latter.

middlewith-four o :channels leadingr' hererom to the springpressed inlet -'valves, and a rotary tubular, fdistributin "valve'mounted to turn'in the f .cylindrical vided 'with two apertures and so driven yas to with four juxtaposed cylinders, the combina- ..30.

rate channels spring-1 ressed-inlet-valves, and a vrotary tu-l -bular dP the cylindrical bore of provided with two a y'planes 'at righty ang -two'revolntionsof the crank-shaft, said-coni' r-nection'being provided with two assages for es. f,

1 y3;."In afonr strokec'ycle eX lesion-engine yo ut departing from the spirit of my inven- 10 f 'I claim:

1-. In a four stroke cycleei lesion-engine l with four Icylinders, the com 'ination with dersf'above said four springpressed inletonthefour cylinders' It is a special advantage Iof the new starting device, thatl the connectionted to. severally open into e 'pressure of compressed 9.A contains gc linders an ada valve 12, occu- ,l t e latter under t e nice and need I airor as, of a vconnection on the four cylingies little space, can be ma I e tightened only on four places between it ders a ove said four spring-pressed inletvalves and comprising a c llndrical bore in and the four cylinders, also that it can be vits middle with a joint for t e supply of compressed airor gas, also with four openings 'and four separate channels leading therefrom to the springressed inlet-valves,`and a rotary tubular ldistributingvalve mounted to The starting device may be varied withfour springressed inlet-valves in the four cylinders, o Aa connection on the vfour cylinply compressed air a time, said valves and comprising va cylindrical bore in its enings and four separate' four channels.

ore of said connection and prothe four 'cylinders an make one revolution on. every two revolutions of the crank-shaft', said connection beingprovided with two passages for each connecting two of the `four channels.

. 2; In a fourstroke cycle explosion-engine compressed air or gas,

inlet-valves and comprising a cylindrical of compressed air or site pairs of supe'r tion with four spring-pressed inlet-valves in separate channels thefourcylinders, of a connection fastened above said four springressed inlet-valves and com rising, a cylinrical bore in its middle lwitg two'opposite pairs of super osed openings and four sepaeading therefrom to the 'four eading there om'to the planes 'at right angles, to its axis, whic tures are so disposed 4as toiseverally land supply compressed air or'gas to .two-cylinders istribiitingvalve` mounted to turn in at la time," said said connection and ertures in two paralleles toits axis and so rivenv as yto make one'revolution on every the crank-shaft.;v

annels, andmea'nsl for so driving HIPPOLYT SAURER- Witnesses:

-A.KELLER EUGENE NABELNQ ,each connecting twoof thefour c ann with fourv cylinders, the com inationwith or gas to two cylinders at connection being provided with. two passagesor each connecting",two of the* 65. 4. Inafour stroke cycle explosion-engine with four. juxtaposed cy1inders,'the combination with four spring-(pressed inlet-valves in adapted .to severally open into'the latter' under the pressure of4 bore its middle with a joint for the supplygas, also with two oppoosed openin s and fourI the cylindrical bore of said connection andconnection being providedrwith two assages foreach connecting twoof- I four spring-pressed inlet-valves the four turn in the cylindrical vbore of said 4connecf v 'tionand provided with two apertureswhichl are so disposed'as to severally and each suplfour spring-pressed inlet-valves, a rotary 'tu-@ v billar-distributing valve mounted toturn in providedl Withtwc `apertures in two arallel apereach' distributingrvalva that itmakes i every two revolutions. `of

mf of'a connection on the. four cylinders above-said four spring-pressed 

